In the metallic gold light of New York's Park Avenue Synagogue, the students approach Jonathan Levin's burnished casket, cluster for a moment, then take their seats. Over 250 come, black and Latino students from the William H. Taft High School in the South Bronx, where Jonathan taught English. The school has a history of assaults and violence; in 1994, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani sent a dozen policemen to patrol the surrounding streets.
The kids arrive in kids' outfits of baggy jeans, high-tops, sweat shirts, bright blues, yellows, purples, greens. For most of them it is their first time in a synagogue. They...
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